Web 1.0: The dawn of trolling

Why is the internet the way it is? In Web 1.0, a new six-part podcast series, Irish Times videographer Enda O’Dowd explores the arguments and innovations that were happening back when the web was new, and how they reverberate in today’s messy and chaotic online world.

The first episode looks at the lost potential of the internet to help people better understand one another, beginning with the theories of psychologist Carl Rodgers in the 1940s.

Rodger’s novel methods of conflict resolution, which he tested in Northern Ireland, would inspire Joseph Weizenbaum, the developer of Eliza, the first AI chatbot, in 1966.

But a computer scientist in Dublin later used that same technology to build one of the first automated trolls - foreshadowing how unpleasant and hostile the online world was to become.

Web 1.0 is reported, produced and edited by Enda O’Dowd. Listen to all episodes here.